Ascentis Timekeeper Supports New Overtime Rule

Under the direction of President Obama, the Secretary of Labor updated overtime regulations on May 18, 2016 to take effect on Dec. 1, 2016. The update follows the original intent of the Fair Labor Standards Act—to increase wages of middle-class workers or allow them more free time outside of their jobs. The update modernizes and simplifies the rules so that they are easier for workers and businesses to understand and implement.

New overtime rules that affect employers:

As of Dec. 1, 2016, employees who earn as much as $47,476 per year ($913 per week) will have to be paid overtime, even if they are considered “white collar” (e.g., executive, professional, manager, etc.).

The DOL will increase the salary threshold every three years, and it’s expected to rise to more than $51,000 by Jan. of 2020.

Many companies are looking at several ways to manage this new rule, including adjusting pay rate and hours worked. As a result, some companies will have to track the hours of certain classifications of employees they didn’t have to before, and will have to be compliant by Dec. 1, 2016.

How Ascentis Timekeeper Can Help

Ascentis Timekeeper accounts for the new overtime rules. The system can alert managers when their employees approach overtime or set thresholds to reduce overtime of their workforce. Ascentis Timekeeper also has the ability to perform multiple complex overtime calculations, based on rules built into the system. Overtime calculations take into account the start and stop times, scheduled hours, and type of duty performed. By using the Ascentis Timekeeper rules engine, organizations can configure pay categories and assign them to different rules and groups—all with unique calculations and cost centers.